Montgomery County Walk Across Texas participants log 130,422.16 miles in 8-week challenge

Sondra Hernandez

Published
11:00 pm CDT, Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Lost in Pace team from the Montgomery County Library System took the top spot in the 2015 Montgomery County Walk Across Texas challenge held April 2 through June 2. The library had six teams participating in this year’s challenge. less

The Lost in Pace team from the Montgomery County Library System took the top spot in the 2015 Montgomery County Walk Across Texas challenge held April 2 through June 2. The library had six teams participating ... more

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The Lost in Pace team from the Montgomery County Library System took the top spot in the 2015 Montgomery County Walk Across Texas challenge held April 2 through June 2. The library had six teams participating in this year’s challenge. less

The Lost in Pace team from the Montgomery County Library System took the top spot in the 2015 Montgomery County Walk Across Texas challenge held April 2 through June 2. The library had six teams participating ... more

Montgomery County Walk Across Texas participants log 130,422.16 miles in 8-week challenge

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Whether they “Walked Across Texas” multiple times or just “visited a town or two,” participants of this year’s Montgomery County Walk Across Texas challenge have taken important steps toward healthier living this spring.

Walk Across Texas is a free, eight-week program that encourages Texans to establish the habit of regular physical activity.

Since 1996, thousands of Texans have participated in Walk Across Texas. The program kicks off locally across the community on April 1.

Walk Across Texas is sponsored by the Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension, designed to help promote healthier living by challenging participants to walk approximately 830 miles, or the distance it would take to walk across the state of Texas.

The Montgomery County Walk Across Texas Community Challenge is a coordinated effort between the Healthy Living Alliance and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

People can jog, play sports, garden, play with the kids, or anything else that gets them up and moving and count it for Walk Across Texas miles.

The 2015 challenge which kicked off in early April had 104 local teams participating with 1,386 total participants.

Candice Rouquette, Manager of Health and Wellness for Montgomery County United Way, said this was another impressive year for Montgomery County walkers.

“Each team should be so proud of your hard work and accomplishments over the past eight weeks,” she said. “I hope this challenge has helped participants learn new, fun ways to include exercise in our daily routines.”

Lost in Pace, a team from the Montgomery County Central Library, logged the most miles with 4,782 this year.

Devery Johnson, Outreach Coordinator for the Montgomery County Library System, is the team captain for Lost in Pace and this year became site manager for those employed by the county who wanted to participate in a team.

She explained that the library hosted a potluck breakfast on April 6 to kick off the challenge. They started out with two teams, but ended up with six teams after the idea caught on at the breakfast.

“Almost the whole building was participating,” she said.

She called the challenge positive motivation for everyone. People who weren’t walking began walking because they had someone else to motivate them.

“One lady who was walking 12 miles in the first week ended up walking 173 miles a week in the end,” Johnson said. “She got really motivated.”

During the challenge, Johnson gave out $5 Starbucks gift cards for the person with the most miles as a motivator.

But she found they didn’t really need coffee to get moving, because the walkers motivated each other.

And they got creative with how they earned their miles. There’s a calculator on the Walk Across Texas website that converts other activities into miles walked.

They shifted library books, for example.

She pointed out that one library book may not weigh that much, but if you’re moving 200 to 500 a day, it adds up.

One team member added up her miles from traveling and walking around Italy on her vacation.

Another participant was on a baseball team.

Johnson’s son, Kevin, a recent graduate of Conroe High School, wore a pedometer and was logging eight miles a day walking around the Conroe High campus. It was number that shocked his mother Devery.

She suspects he’ll continue that pace when he starts at the University of Houston in the fall.

At the end of the challenge, the library teams celebrated with a special lunch with salad from Vero’s, breadsticks, pasta, chicken and special desserts made by the library staff.

They also gave out special certificates in addition to the ones presented by Texas AgriLife for completing the challenge.

She called Lost in Pace’s win very exciting.

“I knew we had a winning team,” she said. “Now we’re happy to share it.”

The Walk Across Texas challenge starts in early April each year and continues for eight weeks through early June.

Visit walkacrosstexas.tamu.edu for more about Walk Across Texas. Visit www.healthylivingmc.com for more about the Montgomery County Healthy Living Alliance.